If I wore a hat, I'd tip it to Harry Kollatz, Richmond Magazine's man about town and longtime urban observer.
Kollatz was quick to leap to downtown Richmond's defense last week after the Washington Post published a Mark Anthony travel story:
But this really got me:
“We set out for dinner one night bound for a restaurant and art gallery west of the Hilton. The hotel staff advised us not to walk, but we thought, how bad could seven blocks in Richmond be? Soon we saw that most businesses along this stretch of Broad Street were vacant, save for a few pawnshops. A passing pedestrian advised us to turn around and take a taxi. We did.”
Now wait a minute. Can I tell you how many times I’ve walked this stretch of Broad, day and night, and never felt this kind of nervousness that the Hilton staff transmitted — bad form — to Ritzel? So OK. I’m a 6-foot-tall, fedora-wearing guy, but still.
“Farther down the desolate street we found pockets of night life, including an opening at the 1708 Gallery …”
This one got my blood up. A whole series of galleries and restaurants are dismissed.
But Kollatz doesn't stop by defending downtown from the Post. He goes on the offensive against what is beginning to feel like an awfully cautious administration led by Mayor Dwight Jones:
Nonetheless, I hope this and the New York Times articles got zipped around City Hall. While we hem and haw about how to create a downtown arts district, national media is coming down here and showing the world that we’ve got a case of the slows, as Lincoln said of McClellan. Staunton — Stahnton! — managed to get this done already.
Look, I’m not expecting this to occur overnight, or even within a year, however, how is it that after almost a decade of First Fridays, an official arts district was somehow never accomplished? Is Richmond not big enough, or does the city not possess the proper discipline, wherewithal and will to do more than one project at a time?
Go, Harry, go!
The good news is that after a decade of nothing, there are a host of entities -- CultureWorks, First Fridays/Curated Culture, the mayor's office and a bevy of Broad Street businesses -- finally sitting at tables talking.
Unfortunately, we're too damn good at talking in these parts. Let's hope someone brings some institutional dynamite to one of these meetings and gets the bumps off the logs.
